Reading skills in males with 47,XXY: Risk factors and the influence of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT)

47,XXY is often associated with reduced expressive language and literacy skills. This retrospective cross-sectional study investigated risk factors (hormone replacement deficiency, pre-or postnatal diagnosis, and history of family learning disabilities [FLDs]) associated with reading skills in 152 males.

We analyzed Woodcock Reading Mastery Test scores among 7 prenatally diagnosed male hormone replacement therapy (HRT) groups using analysis of variance along with analysis of variance and 2 postnatally diagnosed male HRT groups (No-T and T) using t tests. Treated prenatally diagnosed males with FLDs were compared with an identically treated prenatal HRT group with no history of FLDs using a t test.

In prenatally diagnosed males, significant treatment differences were observed on several reading scales (eg, total reading: χ² = 17.96, P = .006), in which the highest modality HRT group (mean [M] =119.87) outperformed the untreated group (M = 99.88). In the postnatal analysis, we observed a significant effect of treatment on basic skills (P = .01). Despite equal HRT status, males with FLDs (M = 105.79) exhibited reduced total reading skills compared with those in the no FLD group (P = 0.0006).

Our findings in this pilot study reveal that the most optimal reading trajectory is associated with a prenatal diagnosis, absence of FLDs, and the highest modality HRT.